IT & design education
for remote Africa
Live a life full of (digital) opportunity, right from their home regions in marginalised rural communities of East Africa – that is what the non-profit organisation Learning Lions is standing for.
We enable young african adults to become digital creatives.
BECOME A LION
LEARN CODE & DESIGN SKILLS
HIRE LIONS
Fair Trade Agency: Code & Design
our vision
Learning Lions is a digital empowerment program, providing opportunities to learn, earn and innovate for young adults in rural Kenya.
We started off in 2015 in Turkana County, Northern Kenya, where traditional sources of income are extremely limited due to its semi-arid environment, poor infrastructure and remote location. We have built an ICT model campus at the shores of Lake Turkana in 2020. Our vision is to bring such digital centers of opportunities to many other marginalised communities.
If we can make it here, we can make it anywhere.
the wholistic path to digital opportunity
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intensive peer-led digital literacy bootcamp which introduces youths to technology while emphasizing personal and professional development skills needed for the digital age.
At the Loropio campus as well as for other organisations at their facilities, Learning Lions offers a 6-week bootcamp called Mobile LEAP – Learning Earning and Problem-solving. Mobile LEAP empowers young people to leap into the future of work by harnessing the power of tools and resources available via smartphones. Trainees are introduced to coding, website creation, design, audio, video, photography, etc. Additionally, personal and professional development skills are emphasized such as growth mindset, communication, teamwork and time management. This training is led by experienced peer trainers.
Mobile LEAP lays the foundations for the Level 2 and 3 training, which 10 to 20% of those that complete it will be invited to attend.
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- tech
- tech
- business
The greatest talents and performers of the Mobile LEAP training are invited to stay on campus to join the 2nd level of training for 8 weeks.
They will now specialize in a specific area of technology: tech, creative or business.
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specialise in a track, bring students up to a professional level, and connect them to volunteer mentors from the industry.
In the third and final level, trainees for 8-months learn in an assisted-autodidact learning approach on a set of curriculum modules that go into deeper specifics for their area of specialization. This will help them acquire concrete skills with high demand on global IT markets. Trainees work on a final ‘gig’ similar to what they would encounter on freelancing platforms and will give a final pitch and demonstration of their work to their peers and mentors.
Talented youth
Donations
Donations - Talented youth
LEARNING LIONS
Learning Lions offers a 1-year digital training program for Africa’s rural youth. The programs are split into 3 Levels. All starts with “Mobile LEAP”, a 6-week intensive peer-led digital literacy bootcamp which introduces youths to technology while emphasizing personal and professional development skills needed for the digital age. Level 2 is an 8 weeks follow-up program and consists of 3 separate tracks: tech, creative and business. Finally, Level 3 is an 8-month autodidactic training to specialise in a track, bring students up to a professional level, and connect them to volunteer mentors from the industry.
Work in an agency ∨
Digital Lions
To support access to international markets for the graduates from our training program, Digital Lions was founded as a digital outsourcing agency. Digital Lions is the world’s first Fair Trade verified digital agency, offering a wide range of creative services from websites, logos, image editing, flyers and brochures to videos and 2D animation. The team is assisted and mentored by a team of high-profile international professionals remotely and on-site.
Startup ∨ - Freelancer ∨
Freelancer ∨
Startup ∨
Startup Lions
In 2020 the solar-powered and eco-friendly Startup Lions ICT Campus, designed by Africa’s leading architect and Pritzker price winner Francis Kéré, opened its doors right at the shores of Lake Turkana. It offers housing, coworking space, entrepreneurship training, and more. The campus can host up to 300 lions and is also open to international digital nomads and entrepreneurs who want to develop projects and build startups or outsourcing teams with our Lions.
International Clientele
JOAN OBUNGE
Front-end developer & Training Co-Lead
our impact
Our dedicated Financial and Impact Report can be found here.
how to support
Donate
Your donation helps to scale our IT and empowerment training to more young talents in Turkana and beyond. It will allow us to expand our ICT Campus in Kenya, and to multiply our operations and our impact into other regions.
Work with lions
The most sustainable way to support our lions? Hire them, on eye-level. Be it as a freelancer or through our Fair Trade creative agency Digital Lions, our creative talents are there to work with you. Check out their portfolios and contact us today.
Volunteer
Spend between two and six months in one of the most remote areas of Eastern Africa mentoring our young talents on their way to become entrepreneurs on the global digital market.
We are mainly looking for coders, designers and other creatives and techies, but can also need support in a wide range of other fields ranging from project management up to construction and maintenance.
